Kumbakonam R. Rajagopal

Bio: Kumbakonam R. Rajagopal is an academic researcher from Texas A&M University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Constitutive equation & Viscoelasticity. The author has an hindex of 77, co-authored 659 publications receiving 23443 citations. Previous affiliations of Kumbakonam R. Rajagopal include Kent State University & University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Flow of K-BKZ fluids between parallel plates rotating about distinct axes: shear thinning and inertial effects

Abstract: It has been shown that for any simple fluid, a flow field of the form u = –Ω[y - g(z)], v = Ω[x – f(z], w = 0, which is appropriate for modeling the flow in a orthogonal rheometer, is dynamically possible. The functions f(z) and g(z) depend on the choice of constitutive equation. In the present paper, these are calculated for a class of K-BKZ fluids which exhibit shear thinning. The results are then used to study the interaction of shear thinning and inertial effects on the flow field in an orthogonal rheometer.

Flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid between intersecting planes

Abstract: We have studied the non-radial flow of an Oldroyd-B fluid between intersecting planes. The effects of the Reynolds number Re and the elastic number σ are carefully delineated. Our results agree with the results of Strauss (Acta Mechanica, 21 (1975) 141) when σ = 0. In addition to studying the problem when σ ≠ 0, we carried out studies for values of Reynolds number which are two orders of magnitude larger than in previous studies. We find that there is an interesting structural change in the streamline patterns with changes in the Reynolds and Weissenberg numbers which was not observed in the earlier studies, and this has been documented for the first time.

A decomposition of Laplace stretch with applications in inelasticity

Abstract: The kinematics of an inelastic solid established in terms of Laplace stretch and its rate are decomposed into one stretch that describes an elastic response, another stretch that describes an inelastic response, and their rates. These kinematics are a direct consequence of Laplace stretch belonging to the group of all real, $$3 \times 3$$ , upper-triangular matrices with positive diagonal elements. The Laplace stretch follows from a Gram–Schmidt decomposition of the deformation gradient.

Non-axisymmetric flow of a viscoelastic fluid between rotating disks

Abstract: It has been known for many years that two functions of the axial co-ordinate determine the axi-symmetric velocity field in the rotating disk problem in an incompressible Newtonian fluid. Recently, in the same configuration, the existence of a non-axisymmetric velocity field, determined by four functions of the axial co-ordinate, has been demonstrated. Because two functions of the axial co-ordinate determine the axi-symmetric velocity field in the above configuration for a class of viscoelastic fluids as well, it could be conjectured that four functions solve the non-axisymmetric problem for the same class of viscoelastic fluids. Here, this conjecture is shown to be true.

On models for viscoelastic materials that are mechanically incompressible and thermally compressible or expansible and their oberbeck–boussinesq type approximations

Abstract: Viscoelastic fluid like materials that are mechanically incompressible but are compressible or expansible with respect to thermal stimuli are of interest in various applications ranging from geophysics and polymer processing to glass manufacturing. Here we develop a thermodynamical framework for the modeling of such materials. First we illustrate the basic ideas in the simpler case of a viscous fluid, and after that we use the notion of natural configuration and the concept of the maximization of the entropy production, and we develop a model for a Maxwell type viscoelastic fluid that is mechanically incompressible and thermally expansible or compressible. An important approximation in fluid mechanics that is frequently used in modeling buoyancy driven flows is the Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation. Originally, the approximation was used for studying the flows of viscous fluids in thin layers subject to a small temperature gradient. However, the approximation has been used almost without any justification...

A new constitutive framework for arterial wall mechanics and a comparative study of material models

Abstract: In this paper we develop a new constitutive law for the description of the (passive) mechanical response of arterial tissue. The artery is modeled as a thick-walled nonlinearly elastic circular cylindrical tube consisting of two layers corresponding to the media and adventitia (the solid mechanically relevant layers in healthy tissue). Each layer is treated as a fiber-reinforced material with the fibers corresponding to the collagenous component of the material and symmetrically disposed with respect to the cylinder axis. The resulting constitutive law is orthotropic in each layer. Fiber orientations obtained from a statistical analysis of histological sections from each arterial layer are used. A specific form of the law, which requires only three material parameters for each layer, is used to study the response of an artery under combined axial extension, inflation and torsion. The characteristic and very important residual stress in an artery in vitro is accounted for by assuming that the natural (unstressed and unstrained) configuration of the material corresponds to an open sector of a tube, which is then closed by an initial bending to form a load-free, but stressed, circular cylindrical configuration prior to application of the extension, inflation and torsion. The effect of residual stress on the stress distribution through the deformed arterial wall in the physiological state is examined. The model is fitted to available data on arteries and its predictions are assessed for the considered combined loadings. It is explained how the new model is designed to avoid certain mechanical, mathematical and computational deficiencies evident in currently available phenomenological models. A critical review of these models is provided by way of background to the development of the new model.

The physics of debris flows

Abstract: Recent advances in theory and experimen- tation motivate a thorough reassessment of the physics of debris flows. Analyses of flows of dry, granular solids and solid-fluid mixtures provide a foundation for a com- prehensive debris flow theory, and experiments provide data that reveal the strengths and limitations of theoret- ical models. Both debris flow materials and dry granular materials can sustain shear stresses while remaining stat- ic; both can deform in a slow, tranquil mode character- ized by enduring, frictional grain contacts; and both can flow in a more rapid, agitated mode characterized by brief, inelastic grain collisions. In debris flows, however, pore fluid that is highly viscous and nearly incompress- ible, composed of water with suspended silt and clay, can strongly mediate intergranular friction and collisions. Grain friction, grain collisions, and viscous fluid flow may transfer significant momentum simultaneously. Both the vibrational kinetic energy of solid grains (mea- sured by a quantity termed the granular temperature) and the pressure of the intervening pore fluid facilitate motion of grains past one another, thereby enhancing debris flow mobility. Granular temperature arises from conversion of flow translational energy to grain vibra- tional energy, a process that depends on shear rates, grain properties, boundary conditions, and the ambient fluid viscosity and pressure. Pore fluid pressures that exceed static equilibrium pressures result from local or global debris contraction. Like larger, natural debris flows, experimental debris flows of ;10 m 3 of poorly sorted, water-saturated sediment invariably move as an unsteady surge or series of surges. Measurements at the base of experimental flows show that coarse-grained surge fronts have little or no pore fluid pressure. In contrast, finer-grained, thoroughly saturated debris be- hind surge fronts is nearly liquefied by high pore pres- sure, which persists owing to the great compressibility and moderate permeability of the debris. Realistic mod- els of debris flows therefore require equations that sim- ulate inertial motion of surges in which high-resistance fronts dominated by solid forces impede the motion of low-resistance tails more strongly influenced by fluid forces. Furthermore, because debris flows characteristi- cally originate as nearly rigid sediment masses, trans- form at least partly to liquefied flows, and then trans- form again to nearly rigid deposits, acceptable models must simulate an evolution of material behavior without invoking preternatural changes in material properties. A simple model that satisfies most of these criteria uses depth-averaged equations of motion patterned after those of the Savage-Hutter theory for gravity-driven flow of dry granular masses but generalized to include the effects of viscous pore fluid with varying pressure. These equations can describe a spectrum of debris flow behav- iors intermediate between those of wet rock avalanches and sediment-laden water floods. With appropriate pore pressure distributions the equations yield numerical so- lutions that successfully predict unsteady, nonuniform motion of experimental debris flows.

Solving Ordinary Differential Equations

Abstract: Initial-value ordinary differential equation solution via variable order Adams method (SIVA/DIVA) package is collection of subroutines for solution of nonstiff ordinary differential equations. There are versions for single-precision and double-precision arithmetic. Requires fewer evaluations of derivatives than other variable-order Adams predictor/ corrector methods. Option for direct integration of second-order equations makes integration of trajectory problems significantly more efficient. Written in FORTRAN 77.

Hyperelastic modelling of arterial layers with distributed collagen fibre orientations

Abstract: Constitutive relations are fundamental to the solution of problems in continuum mechanics, and are required in the study of, for example, mechanically dominated clinical interventions involving soft biological tissues. Structural continuum constitutive models of arterial layers integrate information about the tissue morphology and therefore allow investigation of the interrelation between structure and function in response to mechanical loading. Collagen fibres are key ingredients in the structure of arteries. In the media (the middle layer of the artery wall) they are arranged in two helically distributed families with a small pitch and very little dispersion in their orientation (i.e. they are aligned quite close to the circumferential direction). By contrast, in the adventitial and intimal layers, the orientation of the collagen fibres is dispersed, as shown by polarized light microscopy of stained arterial tissue. As a result, continuum models that do not account for the dispersion are not able to capture accurately the stress–strain response of these layers. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a structural continuum framework that is able to represent the dispersion of the collagen fibre orientation. This then allows the development of a new hyperelastic free-energy function that is particularly suited for representing the anisotropic elastic properties of adventitial and intimal layers of arterial walls, and is a generalization of the fibre-reinforced structural model introduced by Holzapfel & Gasser (Holzapfel & Gasser 2001 Comput. Meth. Appl. Mech. Eng. 190, 4379–4403) and Holzapfel et al. (Holzapfel et al. 2000 J. Elast. 61, 1–48). The model incorporates an additional scalar structure parameter that characterizes the dispersed collagen orientation. An efficient finite element implementation of the model is then presented and numerical examples show that the dispersion of the orientation of collagen fibres in the adventitia of human iliac arteries has a significant effect on their mechanical response.